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Dom Roman
@DomRoman
Dom discusses the draw at Gateshead
NOT A POINT GAINED!
‘You know me, I tell the truth”
“Under the circumstances I am going to say it was a point gained”
“We have improved throughout the season, but some would say not enough”
There should be a health warning marked against reading and listening to Torquay United interviews these days, such is the ever flowing load of nonsense that springs out of them! Above is three corkers just from this week, two from Gary Johnson whose season has been littered with odd quotes and one from Aaron Jarvis. ‘Some would say not enough?’ – bloody hell Aaron I appreciate you as a player, but do you hear yourself?! We are 23rd in the league having not won a game for over a month, 6 points below 20th and staring relegation in the face – let’s make it clear none of us are remotely happy with the team’s performance and it is very difficult to see any improvement during this horrible run of wretched form!
This type of attitude seems to have consumed the club this season, an acceptance and losing mentality that goes a long way to explaining why we’ve been in the relegation zone since September. Gateshead was a game we had to win, never mind fitness issues which suddenly get mentioned, anything less than 3 points was a failure. I’m not sure any other club would be so apathetic about this, and whilst new owners energize the likes of Yeovil and Scunthorpe with investment and new signings, from the top to the bottom of TUFC we appear resigned to our fate and just hoping to pretend it’s not happening. A racehorse that is just happy to trot to the finish, and wags it’s tail regardless of their position. No standards being set, no action plan and no repercussions for a manager or players who never win games. What a sad state.
I wasn’t amongst the heroic 173 supporters who made the trip to the North East, but I did listen on the radio. The commentators sounded utterly dejected for much of the game at what they were having to sit through. ‘McGavin loses possession’, ‘Marshall kicks it out for a throw in’, common sound bites whilst commenting on the Gulls. In amongst this low quality team there are players who are doing themselves justice, this includes Nico Lawrence at the back and the improving Kieron Evans, whilst Jack Stobbs did what he could on his debut, but overall Gateshead had the better of the game and should have won. Gateshead are a low-budgeted club who have just come up from the NLN and lost their top strikers, they are managed by the inexperienced Mike Williamson. Where is the positives to take here, when a gritted out 1-1 at the Heed is the best we can hope for?
Gary Johnson teams used to have drive and energy, an embedded will to try and somehow win games, but if this is to be GJ’s last season then it’s a tragic year to finish on. He provided us so much joy in the first few seasons, but now appears a beaten man grasping for excuses ranging between ‘Lady Luck’, ‘Fitness’, ‘Time Wasting’, Refereeing’, and ‘Supporters leaving early’. Every week we hear something different and supporters have rightly stopped taking them seriously.
Nine more games this season, and it’s debatable whether the team will amass 38-40 points let alone the 46-50 needed to avoid relegation. Feeling resigned to the drop in the middle of March is hurting every single member of the Yellow Army including myself. I’d like to think none of us will give up on this club, we certainly won’t at TorquayTalk and I’m sure that sentiment extends across the fanbase. With silent and mysterious owners (we need reasons to believe in the club’s future Mr Osborne but I won’t hold my breath), a manager refusing to take any responsibility for what’s happening and a slow and tired squad, I’m not sure supporting Torquay United has ever been so taxing, but we will keep ploughing on!
Who knows, maybe we’ll even win a game of football at some point, well stranger things have happened and it would be welcome relief to enjoy an afternoon at the football for a change. See you at Plainmoor on Saturday to find out if we’ll get another Dagger in the heart of our 2022-23 season…
COYY – DOM
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Whilst agreeing totally with all you say, what is even more frustrating is that in a great many of the games , Wrexham being the exception,we have not been completely outclassed and have surrendered points in the closing stages of games!
We are not the poorest side in the division but, as the results and timings of our collapse will show is that we cannot change tactics successfully in a game , half our team in every match seem to be unable to understand tactics and basic instruction and I have lost count of the times that free kicks and corners in the attacking half NEVER get past the first defender!!
Yes a poor team, but, I’m afraid the management and coaches must take a great deal of the blame!
Still hoping🙄
Tony Counter
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Who are our coaching staff? Aaron D? If we are light on regular attending coaches, one guy cannot ever be enough.
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good article, playing for time to secure a point at Gateshead was an acceptance that we are not capable of mounting a late surge to safety, culminating in a final day of surrender to Wrexham. I went to Oldham which was a game to win, in my opinion, that day we had some poor periods but also some outstanding play, their ‘play for time’ philosophy stifled entertainment but refs do not challenge it and we left pointless. So your article said it all really, thanks.
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